During their meeting last Tuesday (June 10) Pelzer Town Council approved a continuing budget resolution and heard comments from citizens, including one calling for the mayor to resign.
The budget resolution will allow the town to operate under the current budget until the 2025-26 budget can be approved.
The budget process had been delayed due to the resignation of town clerk Cheryl Bates in April, which left the town without a central administrative figure.
The town clerk’s responsibilities encompass nearly every aspect of day-to-day operations, including payroll, licensing, records management, grant coordination, and serving as a key point of contact for both residents and town officials.
Mayor Will Ragland has assumed many of the clerk’s duties with some help from Planning Commission head Laura Rainey, who volunteered to help with some of the office duties such as issuing business licenses. Mayor Pro Tem Mike Matthews is currently co-signing checks with the Mayor.
Following the clerk’s resignation, Ragland said he began looking at financial and accounting information for the town “to make sense of it all” and has been in the process of downloading all transactions year to date, recording every single expense and making adjustments for line items “that didn’t match”. He said fifteen accounts have been combined. The actions prompted the concern of councilmembers and residents.
The mayor said the Town is also working on getting new finance/accounting software and getting information ready to get an accurate budget and has advertised locally for the clerk position.
During a recent meeting, Council also approved beginning the process of having a “forensic audit” done. Town officials said they did not suspect any criminal activity such as fraud or embezzlement but wanted to have a detailed look at the town’s financials, which a number of residents and several council members have called for over the years.
The forensic audit has not yet begun, and no timeline has been announced. A regular yearly audit is currently underway by accountants.
Wildflowers being planted throughout town and the related costs have also become a controversy.
Questions have recently emerged about how much has been spent on the wildflower initiative and whether it falls within the mayor’s authorized spending limit. During the meeting, Ragland provided Councilmembers with a spreadsheet showing the town’s expenses for flowers, seed, topsoil and moving dirt.
Tensions surrounding Pelzer’s finances and leadership rose during last Tuesday night’s council meeting when resident Harold Tennihill submitted a formal request that Mayor Will Ragland be temporarily recused from his duties for the duration of the town’s upcoming forensic audit.
Tennihill, a former candidate for mayor and frequent participant in town affairs, addressed council members during the citizen comment portion of the meeting, reading from a prepared four-page statement. He cited a range of concerns, including financial mismanagement, lack of transparency, exclusion of public input, and what he described as a breakdown in collaborative leadership.
He proposed that Mayor Pro Tem Mike Mathews temporarily assume mayoral responsibilities, emphasizing that such a change would not require a special election and that Mayor Ragland could resume his role once the audit is complete.
Council did not respond to Tennihill’s request during the meeting and no action was taken before the meeting adjourned.
Planning Commission Chairwoman Laura Rainey raised concerns about illegal dumping at the lower boat ramp, where she said someone had dumped and burned a mattress, leaving behind springs, along with additional discarded furniture. Rainey praised resident Louie Shirley for his long-standing volunteer work maintaining the area, noting that he regularly mows the grass, empties trash, and keeps the space clean for the community. She urged residents to stop treating the site like a dump. “He’s done this for years,” Rainey said. “It’s not a dumping ground.”
Resident Debbie Seller also spoke during citizen comments, raising questions about the planning and sustainability of the beautification effort. She asked whether council approved the project and if perennials or seasonal maintenance were considered. “It currently looks more like weeds than pretty flowers,” Seller said. “And that, I believe, is a reflection on our town.”
The meeting adjourned without further discussion or action.
Following the meeting, there was considerable discussion among residents and some councilmembers about the wildflower spreadsheet.
Later Tuesday night, or early Wednesday morning, the wildflowers that were growing in the median in front of the Pelzer gym were vandalized.
Pelzer Town Council held a Special Called Emergency Meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday, (June 18) to address placing a limit on spending until a town clerk is hired.
(Story to be posted soon)
